Last night Emily created another amazing gourmet dinner, Bolognese sauce over Polenta...which I didn't know I liked...or maybe it was just the way she made it! Both Jim and I lost weight BEFORE Emily showed up...now we are working twice as hard during the day to get ready for the evening culinary treat! Jim is certainly loving it!

Late in the evening at Spanish Town we watched a barge all lit up make its way over to the ferry pier. They were working all night long, but we have no idea doing what. It is dark at this anchorage, very few boats and almost no lights along the eastern shore where we are. Really is exceptionally creepy at night, especially when you wake up and try to lookout and see if you are dragging..but have no reference points on the shore.

Today we woke with the sun, as usual, and so loosed the lines and made our way over to the baths. A MUCH CALMER DAY than the last time we were here, and after the sun cleared the hills we snorkeled in. Saturday seems to be the time to get here...maybe 10 or so other people here on both beaches, and in the trail...fabulous! We were able to snorkel in Devils Bay, and Jim while hovering over a deep crevasse swims back to me and says....'I think there is a shark lying in the bottom of that hole'. So, what else does a sane person do...but swim over and look in. Sure enough, about 20 feet below, lying on the seabed there is a 5 foot shark (there was some debate about the size, but it was NOT smaller than 5 feet)! So we call Emily over and tell her...hey, there is a shark over here. Emily is thinking to herself...Yeah right.... But OK, I'll bite...so we swim over again - and Yup, he's still there.

WOW - that is something we have never seen before..Ok and frankly, I never really felt like I was missing anything but, since it was non-threatening encounter...it was pretty darn cool! Kind of makes the three barracuda we saw later seem a little tame....umm, nope they still look pretty darn threatening to me.

After a return trip thru the trail, and a snorkel back to the boat, we hoisted sail and pushed it up the channel making for Gorda Sound. The winds were forecasted 15-20knts, so we shook the reefs out of the main, and put up full sail....oops, should have left the reef IN! The winds were gusting 25, which, by the way is when we are supposed to put our SECOND reef point in, so we were just slightly over-canvassed beating to weather. Of course, Jim handled the helm just fine, and we had sustained boat speed over 9 knts, and maximum 10.4. 10.4 are you kidding! ...umm, nope - this boat screams! And just maybe there were are few times I wanted to scream....but there was no way we were going to be putting the reef in now! Emily was very concerned, um...not...actually she fell asleep while we were sailing...she says she has complete confidence in her captain and mate!

Made it to the Bitter End anchorage, and picked up a can in a gusty crosswind. Then I just needed to sit down and rest for a while! We made sammies and wolfed them down in short order, with no conversation...then everyone felt better. We decided we would definitely get the reefs put in early from now on. For all the speed and stability this design has, the feeling of just on the edge of control was more than I am comfortable with.

However, I will say that it was a good test of what she can do. And now that we've done that, I don't have to do it again!
Stopped by the Bitter End Veranda, for a signature Pina Colada...and they tasted exceptionally good after our workout today. I soon found myself staring at the bottom of my glass wondering what happened?

Em whipped up leftovers for dinner tonight, although they are several steps above standard leftover fare! And we are relaxing, under a cloudy sky, with some light showers. That's good because we have salt spray from bow to stern and the she really needs a fresh water rinse.

Ps - Backseaters...I was wrong, Taurus IS in front of Orion....but it doesn't look like anything like a bull!